A Man Drove Over Nazca Lines, a UNESCO Heritage Site, and Left “Deep Scars”

Lying some 250 miles south of Lima, Peru’s líneas de Nazca is one of the world’s most impressive archaeological areas. The Nazca people etched the designs onto the ground between 500 BC and AD 500. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage site. On Saturday, a semitrailer driver identified as Jainer Jesús Flores Vigo damaged the lines. Ignoring warning signs, he drove over the lines leaving “deep scars” in an area 104 feet by 328 feet, according to NPR.

Flores Vigo was arrested but released after a judge failed to find enough proof that he acted with malicious intent. For his part, Flores Vigo reportedly didn’t know the area. But Peru’s public minister announced that Nazca’s prosecutor office intended to appeal the judge’s decision.

This isn’t the first time the location has seen damage. In 2014 ahead of a UN climate talk in the South American country, Greenpeace activists went to the Nazca Desert to plant a message that read “Time for change! The future is renewable! Greenpeace.” Footprints surrounded the banner, which was laid on top of a hummingbird geoglyph.